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Calera High School engineering students give a boost with new wheelchair design

Calera wheelchair edit.jpg

Calera High School sophomore Evan Majewski demonstrates the wheelchair designed by engineering students at the school that raises the seat about two feet in the air to allow better reach during a presentation at Shelby Baptist Medical Center in Alabaster on Thursday, May 15, 2014. (Martin J. Reed / mreed@al.com)

CALERA, Alabama -- Angel Copes, who is assistant director of outpatient radiology at Shelby Baptist Medical Center in Alabaster, saw the difficulty a Thompson High School intern in a wheelchair had with reaching for items in higher locations.

It helps that her husband is Calera High School engineering teacher Brian Copes, who was one of People Magazine's top teachers of 2012. She told him about her observation several months ago and his engineering students quickly started working on the project.

"She didn't know I was working on this, I believe," he told a few dozen people gathered in the hospital's lobby this morning.

"I didn't," his wife replied.

The result of numerous hours of classroom activity by Copes and his students resulted in the design and construction of a wheelchair featuring a scissor-lift seat that raises the individual about two feet higher at the push of a button.

Angel Copes said the wheelchair shows what the Calera students can accomplish when they put their minds toward a goal. "These young children are being inspired and they are going to be productive citizens in our community because of this technology program," Copes said.

She said the inspiration for the chair came from Mikee Harve, who attends Thompson High School and is interning at the hospital under Project Search, a program for students with disabilities.

The wheelchair will not be used at the hospital. "They just brought it to show what these students are capable of," Copes said.

The Calera students have not been short of projects. In 2012, Copes with a group of students traveled to Honduras to fit 14 prosthetic legs they designed and created for people. They also delivered two utility vehicles they built.

A group of seven students is returning to Honduras this summer with 20 prosthetic legs, a hydroelectric power plant on a pontoon boat to power a health clinic and a utility vehicle that will serve as a school bus. All of the supplies they designed and built.

Brian Copes noted the ongoing support of Shelby Baptist Medical Center given to his students. "This engineering class has done tremendous work," said David Wilson, president of Shelby Baptist.

A group of Calera High School students gathered in the hospital's lobby for the presentation after they rolled their new wheelchair covered by a white blanket into the building. Engineering student Evan Majewski moved positions from his wheelchair into the prototype and hit a button that caused the seat to quickly rise about two feet higher.

"It's a scissor-lift mechanism," said David Lawrence, a 15-year-old freshman. "We have a 3,500-pound winch and when we pull the winch, it pulls a bar straight back and raises the seat into the air."

David learned how to weld this school year and he helped connect the pieces together for the new wheelchair. "All of us came up with ideas," he said.

"Every day for fifth period since about a quarter of the way through the school year we started the project," David said. "I just loved it, and it was a lot of fun."

Brianna Meacham, a 17-year-old junior, helped to create the wheelchair's design. The students went through five models before settling on the right design.

"We had to put restrictors on it so it doesn't just shoot them into the air," Brianna said, noting an easy access to recharge the battery for the lift. "This is our prototype. Of course there's stuff to tweak on it."

She is grateful for the experience provided by Copes' class. "I love it. I love every minute of it. I come to class two or three periods a day, after school and on Saturdays," she said.

"It's a great experience to be in it, and it's great for colleges," she added. "I told my grandparents it's like a toy shop."

When asked if he's seeking a patent for the design, Copes cracked a smile and replied, "Patent attorneys are very expensive. ... What I teach my kids community service and how to help others in need."